Of idiocy and beauty in Florence, and travelling with uni.

This morning, I did something that was simultaneously fun and ridiculously stupid in Florence.

In the words of Boromir, it was folly.

I was going to have a nice quiet one, visiting the statue of David, and not visit the Duomo, because I figured it would be much the same as every other Duomo. Also, I had slept about four hours because the Italian people partake in traditional car honking celebrations after their team wins a football match.

Of course, I ended up at the Duomo, and not seeing David.

Why?

The line for David was just not moving. Because I am an ultra-patient person, I left after 10 minutes of queue inaction.

I went to the Duomo, expecting maybe just to walk around inside, take a few good photos of stained glass and whatnot, and go home.

What I ended up doing was scaling a bazillion stairs, not knowing where it would stop, because I had no idea what people generally did at that place.

What people generally did was climb to the top of the place. By climbing the aforementioned one zillion steps.

The view at the top, however, made the trip almost worth it.

(I'll upload a pic a bit later maybe)

Truly breathtaking.

The way down wasn't as bad as expected either.

So after that, long story short, I more or less stumbled towards Prato and uni people.

So we haven't done much so far, except for wandering around Prato. The two people I was wandering with, Jamie (Melbourne High old boy - saw it from a mile away - seriously) and Louise, were quite swell, and the wandering was fairly good bonding time. Met a few more cool people at dinner, which was all good, and I look forward to doing more of the same over the next few days. Off to a good start already. Not that I expected anything less.

Word of the Day: Folly

Surely you jest!

What has always amazed me, and continues to amaze me, is how amazed some Australians are at the fact that we pay more for stuff than people overseas. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this article here. 

To summarise, people think that we pay too much for technology in Australia. 

I like cheap stuff too. I mean, I wouldn't complain if things, including technology, were cheaper. That's probably because I don't own a store that sells such things. 

Which is the point exactly.

It costs money to run these stores. If we assume that rent costs are constant between Australia and America, Australia sells far less of pretty much anything than the equivalent American store. Thus, these costs are then covered by selling things for higher prices.

Not exactly a huge leap in logic, but some people seem to struggle with it. 

Economies of scale. Google it. Or something. 

Granted, for things that don't require physical stores, like downloadable software, I think we sometimes do pay too much for. 

However, there is also something called purchasing power parity. A dollar here does not necessarily buy the same amount of stuff as a dollar elsewhere. 

Which is why I find the DVD thing in the article idiotic. Wow, we pay three bucks more for a DVD here than they do in America!

There are a myriad of factors that could cause price discrepancies. Economies of scale, for one. Purchasing power parity, for another. The list goes on. Taxes. Import costs. Domestic demand. Which is why I find it stupid that the article complains about a couple of bucks difference in DVD prices.

I love that this is how I spend my Friday nights. I am beyond help.

Word of the Day: Idiotic

Hating on hater haters

“Haters will say what they want, but their hate will never stop you from chasing your dream”

- Justin Bieber, legendary singer/songwriter, and greatest manchild to have lived. Ever. 

Something that annoys me. Again.

People who harp on and on about people hating on them, and how they're bigger than all that, and how they're going to rise above it. A number of reasons why this rankles me:

1. Most of it is probably all in your head. You're not really that important that people are going to hate you en masse because you're so 'successful'. Stop flattering yourself.

2. Instead, people are probably annoyed at you because you say stuff like 'haters gone hate', implying that you're so damn successful that people hate you for your success and your wealth etc, and how that doesn't phase you. Which, evidently, it does. Maybe there are other reasons that people don't like you. I know, how bizarre.

3. Just deal with it. If they are, in fact, just words that will not hurt you, and not sticks and stones, then treat them as such. Stop moaning about them.

In summary, I think these people have massively inflated egos, so much so that they think they're worthy of the jealousy of random strangers. The dichotomy is, however, that they also appear to be seeking attention, sympathy and support from their fans, or minions, or followers, etc.

What's worse is that most of these people aren't even old enough to drive, much less likely to be hated on for being ultra successful at whatever they do or have done. I blame Justin Bieber, and, possibly to a lesser extent, Drake, for perpetuating the notion that having 'haters' is awesome. You've already seen the quote from the King of Cool, Bieber, but have a gander at the lyrical genius of Drake:

I can't relate to these haters, my enemies never made it.

Zing! Also conveniently ignores the fact that maybe they don't like the music he puts out. As an aside, I don't like his music. Pretty ordinary stuff.

Anyway. These two, who have massive cult followings. They bang on about how haters only hate on successful people, so then we have people making it seem as though they have haters, because that would then imply that they are successful. Weird, but probably true. And a little bit worrying.

Whatever. For those starting uni tomorrow, have fun. For those who are returning to uni tomorrow, ha.

Word of the Day: Hater

People make mistake

Of course, people make mistake.

It's just not often that people make three mistakes of epic proportions, one after the other. 

First mistake

On Sunday, I told Banh that we'd be in the city by quarter to 1, when in fact, I meant quarter to 2. To make matters worse, he even confirmed it with me, and asked me why it was so early. And I thought nothing of it. Felt pretty bad afterwards. 

Second mistake

Drove to Irene's house today, thinking that Zara, her, and I were going for coffee at 2. Waited for half an hour, called and texted several times. Zara finally put me out of my misery by telling me that we had actually scheduled it for tomorrow. Went home and banged my head against the wall for a bit. 

I guess it was karma for my first mistake. 

Third mistake

The typo at the start and in the title. Gotcha! (Not giving Meng a wake-up call didn't count. He's 22. He can't seriously expect me to give him a wake up call at 12 noon. Most people grow out of that by the time they start primary school.)


I blame all of these things on the fact that it's holidays. And everybody knows that during holidays, you lose all sense of time and day. Yeah. That must be it. 

*******

Anyway, on to some decidedly error-free stuff.

Kylie's party on Sunday was quite fun. Even if you take away everything else, it was on a boat. I mean, how many twenty-firsts have you had on a boat?

Time to relive a classic

My only disappointment was the fact that she didn't think to invite T-Pain. Don't know how that slipped her mind.

Also, going to Gold Coast in February with my homedawgs. Yeeeeeeeeaaaahh!

Word of the Day: Mistake

Sometimes...

...I wish I didn't suck so much at life.

Despite that, I'm not actually feeling all that down about anything really.

It's been a pretty good week, all in all. Been having good times, spending too much money, moving firewood, so on and so forth.

But yeah, it's just always something at the back of my mind, which I think I've canvassed enough here. It's just really annoying. So much so, that sometimes I lose concentration at inopportune moments, such as when I'm driving, and end up doing something stupid like going over a roundabout instead of around. At least it wasn't a cat or something. That'd be really bad.

Then, after I do that something stupid, I berate myself, and tell myself to concentrate. Don't know why I've started doing that. It's just plain weird.

It always gets kind of like this during holidays for me. I think it's mostly to do with having lots of free time to think about random things that make me somewhat unhappy.

To finish on a random note, I need more business shirts. Actually, just shirts in general. But I am too poor/frugal to pay a lot for them.

In sum, woe is me.

Word of the Day: Frugal

Occupy Your Face!

Sorry for taking so long constructing this post. I was busy trying to study for exams.

Which is massively ironic, in light of everything that I'm going to discuss.

Anyway. Let's do a fun little exercise that The Age did. It's called 'stereotyping'.

People love it. Makes things a lot easier, when you can categorise people based on race.

Disregarding the fact that *shockhorror* not every person in each race is the same as each other, let's do a bit of stereotyping and generalisation.

White people love footy and beer, and not going to uni is ok. In fact, it might even be encouraged.

Asian people, not so much. There's a pressure to actually go to uni and complete your degree.

For white people, not having a high paying job or a successful career is ok.

For Asians, not so much.

Let me reiterate, I know that this isn't the case for every single person in every single race. But let's just play The Age at their own game. 

So if we go with the assumption that people can be stereotyped as above, then why would it be surprising that Asians 'dominate' selective-entry schools? If Asians, as The Age so eloquently state, have pressure from their parents to achieve at school, while white people don't, then why would it be absurd that there are more Asians at an elite school?

What worries me more is that the contention is not so much that it's absurd. What worries me is that the contention that The Age is making is that there is something wrong with this. That white people have some divine right to be the dominant race at a selective entry school.

Simply put, nobody was complaining when it was mostly white people at Melbourne High and Mac Rob a few decades ago.

There's no rules forbidding anyone from taking the exam, doing well enough, and getting in. In fact, I would argue that it would, or should, be easier for home-grown Aussies to get in, for reasons that I don't think I need to go into.

Let's just assume that there is something wrong with having too many Asians at selective entry high schools (whatever that even means. I mean, for the purposes of this argument, am I Asian? Certainly genetically. But, for all intents and purposes, I am an Australian.) What is the proposed solution? Prevent Asians from caring about their education and their future, and hence, stop them from studying as hard?

Andrew Bolt, for once, quite nicely summed it up.

There's no distinction for students at those schools. We don't go around not talking to white people because they're white. We just have fewer white friends mostly because it's a cultural thing. We tend to do different things in our spare time. Have different family values. In sum, not so much to talk about. We still have white friends though. Just less of them.

I mean, the whole thing is stupid. Most people never think about these things in terms of race. I, for one, don't look at someone and go, hey, they're white, must act differently towards them.

Anyway, whatever. Work hard, or be born smart and work a little bit, and you'll probably end up at a selective entry school (if you're even aware of their existence - I know most people aren't), regardless of your race.

The topic of working hard to get further in life is a nice segue into my next little topic.

Some of you may have noticed this thing taking place. It's called Occupy Melbourne (or insert any other city in the developed world).

If this were happening in any other city, I could understand.

But this is Melbourne.

The same Melbourne that has a real unemployment rate that economists consider to be zero.

The same Melbourne where you get free education, and get paid by the Government if you're out of work.

The same Melbourne that my father came to, twenty years ago, with no money, no relatives, no friends, and no understanding of the language or culture, and managed to make a living, and eventually afford a house, a car, and schooling for his children.

He's not the only one. Probably 99% of my friends are the children of immigrants. And they're doing alright.

If someone like my father, and countless other immigrants, who have nothing when they come here, can more than make ends meet, I think there's rarely an excuse for people that grow up here not to.

Granted, my dad is a man of incredible drive and dedication. He worked, and still does work, 9, 10, 11 hours a day, often seven days a week. With maybe a 15 minute lunch break. Sometimes with no lunch break.

He is also smart. The work he's doing now is experiencing a shortage of people that will probably not reverse any time soon.

But that didn't happen straight away. He also experienced many setbacks, times when he didn't know whether it would all work out. There were times when he worried whether he'd make enough money to put food on the table for dinner that night.

Just as an aside, I don't think I'm anywhere near as good as he is. For one, I think I'd find it very hard to leave a place that I'd called home for 30-odd years, to go to a place that I knew nothing about, in search of a better future.

While I know that not everyone is as determined, driven, smart, or brave as him, a lot of it is down to hard work. So, I guess, mainly determination.

Yes, I know that some people experience bad luck. I also know that not everyone comes from an ideal background that's conducive to being educated, or getting good jobs.

I know that, because my father came from a similar background. So did my mother.

But, conversely, many people at this Occupy Melbourne thing have a much better foundation than he does. 99% of it comes from the fact that they grew up here. They're native speakers of the language. They were educated until at least Year 10. They have a safety net to fall back on.

Let me make it clear what it was like when my parents came here, just after I was born. They had nobody to rely on. Nothing. If they starved, they starved. The Government offered no assistance. When they arrived, it was during the worst recession since the Great Depression. And they managed to get through all that.

Yes, corporate greed is excessive sometimes. Was, is, probably always will be. It's human nature. Put yourself in their position. Would you take more?

I'm not saying it's right, but what it seems to me is that all these people ranting against 'capitalism' in favour of 'socialism' (as an aside, I doubt many of them know what either of these words actually mean) are only against it not because there's anything intrinsically wrong with capitalism, but because capitalism isn't handing a job to them. Or whatever they want capitalism to hand to them. I'm a little confused about that point, but whatever. Put another way, they'd be perfectly happy if capitalism were to give them a house, a car, and no mortgage to pay.

The most profound moment, for me, in this whole saga, was one of my Facebook 'friends' harping on about how he'd spent the day at the protests.

He'd just come back from a trip around Europe. Last time I checked, airfares alone were around $4000.

How hypocritical is that? There's nothing wrong with going to Europe. Australia's a liberal democracy. Do whatever you want with your money, as long as it's not harming anyone. But please, don't then turn around two weeks after you come back from your sojourn around Europe, and complain about your lack of money/job. Money needs to be saved. Nobody owes you anything. If you decide to spend it on a trip around wherever, don't go and protest about how corporate leaders are taking your money. They're not. You're spending it all away.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone there, but it seems to be a common theme. Not just at these protests, but just around the place. People spending all their money, having good times, getting wasted, whatnot, then complaining that they don't have enough money to do it all again.

It's clear that most people protesting don't see the apparent contradiction in their actions. Otherwise, they wouldn't be protesting. The whole thing is just one, big confused mess. What it seems to me is that people are using this as a way to vent their frustrations. Any frustrations. Not necessarily anything to do with anything.

Again, I acknowledge the fact that there are genuinely unfortunate people out there. They deserve our help. In many cases, we do try to help them. What's distressing, at least in my mind, is when people go and blow probably close to at least $10 000 on a jolly holiday, and then complain about their lack of money.

Of all places, Melbourne is the last place you'd expect something like this to happen. The very fact that you have time and energy to camp in the city for a week, and not starve to death, or have to worry about actually getting that food that you're lacking, is testament to this.

Further, the corporate 'fat cats' didn't just become fat cats overnight. Whether you like to acknowledge it or not, many of them worked hard for it.

Lindsay Fox dropped out of school because he was no good at it. He started driving trucks. He eventually saved up, and bought one. Then several. Eventually, he built a company out of it.

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jay-Z, similar stories. Often coming from less-than-ideal backgrounds.

Yes, there is an element of fortune to becoming a bazillionaire. Probably a large part of it.

But do you think they just sat there, and it just happened for them, with no work on their part?

Very rarely do fat cats become fat cats for no reason. While what they get paid, and what they take, seems, and probably is, excessive, it didn't just happen either.

Also, fat cats employ people. Topple big corporations, and you'll lose more jobs.



I'll give you this awesome slogan from the movement.

GREED IS OVER. REAL DEMOCRACY NOW.

What. The. Hell.

The two things aren't mutually exclusive. There are greedy people in democracies. Actually, I would contend that greedy people make up the vast majority of any society, not just democracies.

To summarise, I find it genuinely amazing how people are so self-entitled, and think that they deserve to have money handed out to them, especially in a place like Melbourne, where money is often handed out to them. While I know not everybody there is like that, many of them are.

I think I'll just leave it there. I feel a bout of compulsive head-banging on the table coming on.

Word of the Day: Occupy

Procrastinating already

By the way, that crush I had a while ago, apart from being non-existent now, was foolish in the extreme.

Why, you may ask. Since when has Andrew done/thought anything dumb?

(By the way, just in case you thought I was the epitome of perfection, I do stupid stuff occasionally. Only occasionally.)

(Actually, who am I kidding? Most of the stuff I do is stupid. Full stop.)

Well, it turns out she has a fiance.

What's a 20-year-old (that's about how old she is) doing with a fiance?

To that question, I have no answer. Or, at least, no sensible answer. As in, no answer that doesn't consist of conspiracy theories involving giant alien palm trees and miniature balloon animals (in various shapes and colours). Told you so.

Anyway, I'm supposed to be smashing out these job applications. So far, I've completed KPMG, but it seems cursed to me. Firstly, the application was a struggle, because I couldn't upload my academic transcript for about 2 hours. After that's all done, they send me an email with a dodgy link to a test I'm supposed to do. I couldn't use the link, so I tried to do it the manual way - that is, through the website. The website was down for maintenance until this morning.

This afternoon, I tried to do it. I ended up doing the first test about five times, because it kept screwing up. I'm pretty sure I still haven't submitted it properly, and I can't go on to the next ones.

Oh, and I'm supposed to do it 48 hours after receiving the email. It's now been about 50 hours, by my reckoning.

Write it off as a lost cause? Probably a good idea.

So that debacle has absolutely disenchanted me with job applications for now. So, instead, I'm busy becoming a beast at guitar. Building my repertoire, so that I don't always end up playing either 'Songbird', 'The Scientist', 'Wonderwall', 'I'm Yours', 'She Will Be Loved' or 'Mine'.



Good little song, that one. I quite enjoy the video myself.

Looking at it now, that's actually not too bad a collection. But there's always room to expand. Quite what I'm going to do with these songs, I have no idea. Probably serenade someone one day. Hopefully.

Word of the Day: Debacle

Definitely Maybe

What a fantastic song. A true gem off his newest album.

And this one:



In both songs, I wish Nicki Minaj were not on them. Cringe-factor-wise, she's right up there with Pitbull in 'DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love' by Usher. I have no idea why people love her, but there you go. Another example of people having varied tastes.

Also, Rihanna's normally annoying voice works when it's featured in songs. Bizarre.

A smashing album, in case I haven't mentioned that already. Fantastically produced, and it kind of strikes me as '808s and Heartbreak' crossed with his old stuff. An excellent blend.

I also had a semi-epiphany today. I need more female friends. See, female friends are really, really good for conversing with. As in, when you need to talk about more complex things in life, often female friends are better suited to it. It's just that most of mine treat me like rubbish. So, here's the theory. Say, if the odds are for every ten girls that I befriend (I use the part-word 'friend' loosely here), 0.5 of them converse with me without me initiating the conversation, then eventually one of them is bound to turn out alright. Thus, the less I 'befriend', the less chance I have that one of them will actually talk to me regularly. Conversely, the opposite is also true (duh).

This kind of rule can be applied to almost all facets of life involving chance and probability.

The worst thing about all of that is, I think somebody's already gotten there before me. I think they called it the law of probability, or something.

I cannot believe that you just spent time reading that.

Word of the Day: Monster

Interior Inferior

I'm quite tetchy at quite a few people right about now. I don't know why. It may be something to do with people treating me as being inferior, and having no regard for my feelings or emotions.

It's a little bit sad. I never went through a phase of not being part of the 'cool crowd' back at high school. At Vermont, the cool kids in my class were really inclusive and generally nice. At Melbourne High, there were no real 'cool kid' groups. There were just groups, and I was a bit of a floater anyway.

It's kind of like it's catching up with me now. People treating me as if I'm stupid, or blind, or both. I'm not saying I'm a super genius or something. Far from it. I think I'm on the lower end of the smart scale. But this kind of stuff, anybody with half a brain could figure it out.

I'm a little bit scared right now actually. There are a few things I'm scared of currently, but one of the main ones is that I've recently started noticing that I've become desensitised to a lot of things. Like, nothing much in recent memory has hurt me all that much. People treating me like I have the intelligence of a five-year-old? Yeah, whatever. I'll just stop talking to them. People talking to me only when they need me for something? Yeah, that's fine. I'll just do likewise. People being rude to me? I can more than reciprocate that.

I guess it all boils down to your own morals. My mother always says that many things are acceptable if you can get past your own conscience. Most of the time when I think something is morally apprehensible or just plain wrong, it's just that: what I think. So in essence, if I didn't think that something I was going to do was very wrong, most people would be cool with it.

I'm scared because I think I'm starting to operate like that. Tit-for-tat. They treat me like that, I treat them like that back. I didn't used to be like that. I usually treat people a little bit nicer than they treat me. I guess every person has a breaking point. Being nice doesn't pay off 99% of the time, unless it's to people who deserve it, so what's the point? That's the reasoning anyway.

So right now, I'm ignoring my instincts about what's wrong and right, and just responding to how people treat me. Which I think is dangerous, because I think I'll be a worser person for it. Again, I think it's just my own perception. Other people probably wouldn't notice. I hope this phase passes quickly. It makes me quite bitter.

Word of the day: Stupid

A proverb charges money to do what an amateur verb does for free

Just to add to what I wrote up late last night, my good friends also have a certain amount of intelligence. Which ties in with making me laugh, because, in my opinion, to be verbally funny requires a very high level of intelligence.

Anyway, I'm going to articulate another thought that I've had for a long time.

See, people always quote these proverbs. Things like "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind," or "Money can't buy you happiness." I dislike it when people quote these kind of sayings to me. Proverbs like these are just dumb. They can't be proven, and are way too general and extreme.

Let's take the latter proverb, for example. See, I would say that, while money in and of itself doesn't make you happy, it certainly goes a long way to making you happy. Case in point being the guy on the street without a dollar in his pocket. Ask him how happy he is. However, I believe the guy who has millions of dollars in the bank account wouldn't be too happy either if he had nobody to love, and nobody to love him. I believe that a more appropriate saying would be something like "Money isn't the end all and be all in life, but it's certainly good to have, amongst other things, such as friends, love, and fun." But of course, this doesn't fit neatly into a few words, so generalisations and blanket terms must be used.

Also, other ones which are more wishful thinking than actual observations, and their subsequent application when something happens that actually fits the saying. Things like "What goes around comes back around." I wish that were the case too. Unfortunately, from observation, most of the time it isn't. I see people who are complete jerks scoring good jobs, girls, and unconditional adoration from 90% of the world. And then, there are times when they get their come-uppance, and you think "They had that coming." But that's just us fitting that isolated incident into this neat little proverb.

Yes, I realise that I may be over-analysing. But the people who quote these things to me started it. They treat these things as their own personal little bible, like they are correct and incontrovertible in every instance.

There are sayings that actually make sense, and can actually be found to exist in this world of ours, and they are pure gold. My favourite is one that my dad quotes sometimes, and is Chinese. It goes something along the lines of (rough translation coming up):

Firstly, you have to help yourself. Then other people can help you. Then the heavens can help you.

It's absolutely beautiful in Chinese. It's summarise in six characters, three of which are repeated. Say what you like about Chinese, about how hard it is, and confusing, or whatever, but it can be a very poetic language.

This proverb I find to be true. You can see it in everyday life. You have to pull your own weight, do your own work, try your best, before other people can help you, and before luck can go your way. I'm not saying it's always the case, but how many people do you see winning the lottery, and have never done any hard work in their life? A few more that are observable and that I like are:

No bird soars to high if he soars with his own wings

William Blake, I believe that was.

And one to finish off from Chris Martin. Obviously not a proverb, but still. This one applies to me, but it may not apply to you. I like to believe that it touches a spot deep within everybody, because I like to believe that most people have hearts, and feel love sometimes. Possibly one of my all-time favourite quotes. And yes, I have quoted it numerous times.

It's weird that whatever else is on your mind, whether it's the downfall of global economics or terrible environmental troubles, the thing that always gets you most is when you fancy someone.

Word of the Day: Proverb

Iron

I feel like doing something stupid and reckless right now. Not something harmful. Just something different.

Like dyeing my hair blond, for example. I would, but I am morally and aesthetically opposed to it. Quite frankly, orange and blond look revolting on Asians. Maybe a light orange on girls. On guys, nah, revolting. My absolute favourite would have to be dark red/burgundy on girls, and brown comes a close second. I wouldn't mind mine being dark red. Having said that, however, I think my hair looks best in black. But I may just do something to it just for kicks. Watch the hair.

One could actually argue that dyeing my hair would be reckless in a harmful way. But I'll pretend that argument isn't valid.

This week's been quite topsy-turvy. Started off kinda dodgy, ended quite nicely. Sort of. Whatever. There were good moments throughout, so I'll just be happy with that I guess. It's just sometimes I wish the irony gods would leave me alone for a day or two. That'd be pretty sweet. Would've been a great end to the week if they hadn't interfered. But then, it wouldn't really be my life if it wasn't ironic, would it?

Word of the Day: Irony

Another thought

A thought just occurred to me. This seems to be happening a lot. Spontaneity for the win.

Unless I'm mistaken, this concerns all of us. We, as humans, are preoccupied with the reason behind something. Always. Someone's late. Someone's broken a promise. A coconut falls from a palm tree and hits someone on the foot.

Knowing the reasons behind these things doesn't change the fact that they did happen.

However, something else just occurred to me. I mean, literally just now. We want to know these things because we want accountability. We want to be able to be angry, or at least rectify the problem. We want to make things better, or, at the polar opposite, cut it off completely.

What a stupid thought.

Banh's Australia Day shindig was quite awesome yesterday. The food was very nice, and the company, as always, was excellent. Well, most of the company consisted of my friends, so that's understandable really.

Anyway, the food was quite creative more than anything. Seared lamb gyoza, salmon rice paper rolls, puff pastry with hoisin sauce, and black forest trifle for dessert. I have a feeling that I've left something out, but that'll do for now. Sounds delicious enough as it is.

I also watched most of the Nadal loss there. Most saddening.

These things are awesome. The shindig, I mean. Not the Nadal losing. Takes my mind off things. Not that it's on a lot of things. Just a few things which I get overly stressed by.

Word of the Day: Australia Day

Fishy business

So here I am, back home from a 3 night, 4 day journey to Metung.

Well, what can I say. A lot happened. I'll try and pick some highlights.

I failed to catch any fish. Over 3 days, I failed to catch one fish. At all. The reasons, I believe, are varied, and all of them are quite plausible.

1. I suck at fishing. We'll start with the least plausible explanation. I can fish, being the hunter-gatherer that I am. However, the other times may have just been sheer, dumb luck, so we can't rule this explanation out.

2. My inner peace was unsettled, and this was picked up on by the fish. The most plausible reason out of all of them, I believe. What happened was, my friend, Orrin, tells me on Monday night that he had received no transfer offers from anywhere. None. From anywhere. After having applied in a range of courses as broad as my shoulders, from Arts/Commerce to hairdressing in Bundoora. And he had a D average. After consoling him for a quarter of an hour, and scratching my head as to why he didn't at least get a transfer into Gardening at Peninsula, he calls me 15 minutes later to tell me that he had actually gotten a transfer to Arts/Commerce at Clayton, which was his first preference. And he had the nerve to complain that I didn't congratulate him, even though I did. But he didn't even deserve it. Apparently he only checked the paper, and not the website.

Can you congratulate me or something, man?

Yeah, congratulations on the monumental stuff-up Orrin.

So for the next couple of nights, no fish.

Just to illustrate the validity of this reasoning, everyone else but me caught at least one fish. And, just to top it off, after Linda texted me last night, I almost caught something. Good luck charm right there.

3. All the fish have moved to Sydney.

Hmm. That's about all there is to mention really. Pictures on Facebook soon hopefully. Oh, and I didn't get to buy any souvenirs, owing to the fact that there are hardly any shops that sell souvenir-y things. Forgive me, friends.

Word of the Day: Metung

Sobering

I have now taken up another resolution.

My resolution is to not cause my family, or anyone close to me, any pain, through any stupidity on my part.

What I mean is, I don't want to do anything stupid and destroy my life, or possibly lose it, and cause heartbreak and pain for anybody that cares about me.

It's saddening, and slightly scary, how quickly life can be taken away from a person, especially on the roads. The worst thing is that, even if you're driving under the speed limit, not in anyone's way, something could still happen to you.

Recently, I witnessed first-hand how much the death of a person could hurt those close to him. I don't want to hurt my loved ones in this way, if I can help it. It hurt seeing the pain of those people. I can't imagine how much more acute that pain would be if I were experiencing it.

It starts with me. By minimising the instances where I take stupid risks. Not that I take a lot of stupid risks. In fact, I'm fairly risk-averse. But just the next time I think about taking one, I'll think more carefully about it, hopefully.

Word of the Day: Sobering

D'you Know What I Mean

Ahh, you can tell summer's just around the corner when a big fat fly divebombs you inside the house.

Also when your skin feels like it's on fire after spending more than 2 mins outside.

Today wasn't a bad day, except I randomly got into a bad mood. Sorry people who felt the brunt. Except for the people who it was intended for. It was kinda reflected in the change in weather. You know, how it was all sunny, then...shazzam! all cloudy.

Ah, how stupid of me to think that football season starting up again would take my mind off things. It's funny how I laugh at naive people. Actually, more like ironic.

Sometimes, I have no idea what I'm talking about. Or why I'm talking about it. This would be one of those times. I call it poetic nonsense (c). You heard it here first.

Word of the Day: Naive

Curious, curious

And with about an hour-and-a-half of fairly good application towards my work, I seem almost up to date. And I thought I was really behind.

Another observation from today was that I really shouldn't jump and land on my right knee. Right leg was bad enough. Right knee. Stupidity beyond reason.

I also need a wallet. And possibly a bag. And, although I don't technically need it, it would be nice to have an iPhone. I mean, the screen protector on my phone's coming off. Surely that's a good enough reason.

A lesson to be learned from today can be divided into two parts:
1. Do not stick your finger through the ear of a cup so far that your finger gets stuck.
2. If you're stupid enough to do this, do not pull your finger out until cup is empty.

Alas, my sister (the older one, which is even more astounding) contravened these two no-nos. The result was hugely dynamic: flying hot chocolate with sound effects and cup twisting movement. A sight to behold.

A sorry goes out to the Ambassadors for skipping lunch. The marginal cost of attending severely outweighed the marginal benefit. I had work to do, dad had a day off, I'm poor, city on a Sunday, public transport on a Sunday (which is linked to city on a Sunday). Sorry to deprive you of a scribe for this 'extravaganza. I nominate Rui 'Raymond' Ling to replace me.

I don't know where I was going with that post. I think it's because I'm in a very 'meh' mood.

Word of the Day: Meh